February 6, 2015
Data breaches can attract litigation, both in the form of class actions but also individual claims arising out the unauthorised disclosure of health records. It can compound heavy reputational loss. The article LinkedIn’s Data Breach Settlement Moves Forward reports on the resolution of a lawsuit arising out of the 2012 breach of Linked In’s network. The tentative agreement of Read the rest of this entry »
There have been no shortage of lessons to be learnt from the the Sony Hack. Poor cyber security and systems layed the foundations for the hack attack. It was less to do with evil geniuses breaching an impenetriable defence and more to do with inadequate and compromised privacy infrastructure. There is more to be learnt from the hack, starting with who was responsible. The suspected origin of the attack has varied from, initially, North Korea to a disgruntled insider to, most recently, Russian as reported in Report Claims Russians Hacked Sony.
The other aspect of the Sony Hack has been the ever widening consequences of the breach. It acted as a Read the rest of this entry »
Today the Pew Research Centre published a very interesting report, titled Investigative Journalists and Digital Security: Perceptions of Vulnerability and Changes in Behavior (found here). The findings are based on a survey of 671 investigative journalists and their experience with digital security.
Clearly there is a continuing concern about Read the rest of this entry »
February 3, 2015
In Everyday ways your personal privacy is under threat Zdnet highlights the privacy invasive potential associated with Read the rest of this entry »
February 1, 2015
A small drone landed on the grounds of the US White House last week. It caused a minor splash in the media with all sorts of concerns, mostly overhyped, about security raised. The coverage did Read the rest of this entry »
January 30, 2015
The Australian’s article March of the mini-drones is not a revolutionary piece on this ever developing technology. The use and uses of drones are growing at a significant rate and far outpacing the regulations and the response times of legislatures to develop coherent and effective regulation. But this piece also points to the development of consumer drones which are pre programed and can be used autonomously to follow its owner or follow a pre set flight path. That often involves the drone mounting a camera and taking videos or photos. As battery life increases along with improved carrying capacity coupled with mounting more sophisticated video and audio devices the privacy invasive capacity grows. It has the potential to require a review of the law of trespass and, more particularly, nuisance to meet the less savory uses of this technology.
Meanwhile there is a Read the rest of this entry »
January 28, 2015
The Privacy Commissioner has issued Guide to securing personal information. It has been long awaited. While it will be an important resource for privacy law practitioners as it will guide them in developing processes, spending on the security and setting priorities it is drawn in the broad and sets the regulatory bar quite low when compared to what it could be. It suffers Read the rest of this entry »
In Privacy fears in bid to bolster laws for fight against cyber crime the Australian highlights the Governments review of cyber crime legal framework. Australia is undergoing the same process that the President of the United States has forshadowed. The problem in Australia is that the existing privacy regulatory structure which interfaces with the any notification law that might arise has incomplete coverage, is quite vague and not actively regulated (to date). In that environment Read the rest of this entry »
January 27, 2015
That drones are causing regulators difficulties is trite. In the USA the Federal Aviation Authority has been working on regulations regarding the commercial use of drones for years. In Australia the Read the rest of this entry »
In Wilson v Ferguson[2015] WASC 15 the West Australian Supreme Court, per Mitchell J, issued an injunction and awarded damages by way of equitable compensation against the Defendant in a claim brought in equity for the misuse of private information.
The plaintiff met the defendant in May 2011. Both were employed at Cloudbreak and worked in the same crew [19]. They began to date as boyfriend and girlfriend in November 2012 and after a few weeks the plaintiff moved into the defendant’s home [20]. During their relationship they would send each other photographs of a sexual nature depicting each other naked or partly naked [22] with the defendant initiating the exchange. The defendant also took explicit photographs of the plaintiff with her knowledge and consent [22] and she also used her mobile phone to take videos of herself nude and, on at least one occasion, engaging in sexual activity [23].
Some time after the videos were taken, the plaintiff Read the rest of this entry »